Click to read the article
Whatever It Takes (2000)
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work ![]()
Reviews Counted:62
Fresh:9
Rotten:53
Average Rating:3.4/10
Consensus: Whatever It Takes is another run-of-the-mill teeny-bopper romance flick. Cliche jokes and a tired plot capture few laughs.
Runtime: 1 hr 34 mins
Genre: Comedies
Synopsis:
High School senior Ryan Woodman and every other male student at Gilmore High has a massive crush on the most luscious knockout ever to walk its hallowed halls, Ashley Grant. The only problem? Ryan...
High School senior Ryan Woodman and every other male student at Gilmore High has a massive crush on the most luscious knockout ever to walk its hallowed halls, Ashley Grant. The only problem? Ryan is persona non grata in the popular set and hardly worthy of Ashley's attention. Enter Chris, resident babe magnet, who's pining to no avail after Ryan's best friend Maggie, a girl with beauty, brains and a big heart. It's four weeks till graduation, and the clock is ticking for Ryan and Chris to snag their respective dreamgirls.
In the hilarious romantic comedy Whatever It Takes, Chris and Ryan, flanked by bumbling buddies Floyd, Cosmo and Dunleavy, go to outrageous lengths as they hatch a plan which, if successful, will land them both with the right girl-or so they think.
Weaving a web of fake e-mails, plotted phone calls, contrived double dates and mistaken identities, Ryan helps Chris hide his dumb-jock personality under a façade of fake sensitivity, and soon Maggie is smitten. At the same time, Chris convinces Ashley that Ryan is the new cool kid in school and worth a second look. But messing with fate just ends up messing everything up, and in this tale of mismatched love, Ryan discovers that being yourself is always the best scheme, and that sometimes the love of your life is the girl next door-your best friend.
Starring: Shane West, Marla Sokoloff, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, James Franco
Starring: Shane West, Marla Sokoloff, Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, James Franco, Christine Lakin, Aaron Paul, Colin Hanks
Director: David Raynr
Director: David Raynr
Screenwriter: Mark Schwahn
Producer: Paul Schiff
Composer: Edward Shearmur
Get This Movie
Reviews for Whatever It Takes
What the film takes for granted is that there is a young horde waiting to be sold the old tripe again, a group very specifically targeted (from about age 15.2 to 19.4) as laugh patsies.
You can see the outcome from the very first seconds of the film, and Mark Schwahn's screenplay plunders everything from Cyrano de Bergerac to Risky Business.
Whatever It Takes is light, fluffy, fast-paced, and through the sludge of overdone ideas are a couple original moments.
If you saw a single John Hughes movie from the 1980s, you've already seen this territory covered with more style and insight.
While it isn't really worth the trip to the theater, it's good enough for a rental when it comes out on video.
The mixture of puerile double entendres, vomit humor, dumb-blonde and dumb-jock jokes, and smarmy last-minute sentiment on display here is pretty much beyond endurance.
The predictable scenarios don't allow the actors many opportunities to distinguish themselves.
Like some kind of perverse cinematic plague, the teen comedies keep coming, each looking like a more washed-out xerox of the last one.
Besides being strictly perfunctory, the movie is marked by its offhand sense of cruelty.
The producers ... settle for the most obvious load of formula stuff in a numbingly cliched teen comedy pivoting on a lot of plastic angst over who'll take whom to the prom.
An occasionally amusing but otherwise unimaginative teen-based comedy.
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 77% 77% | The Hangover |
| 88% 88% | Inglourious Basterds |
| 66% 66% | Public Enemies |
| 24% 24% | G-Force |
| 44% 44% | Night at the Museum: B… |
| Tomatometer Percentage | Movie |
|---|---|
| 82% 82% | Paranormal Activity |
| 58% 58% | 9 |
| 44% 44% | Jennifer's Body |
| 58% 58% | A Perfect Getaway |
RT On Current TV
DIRECTV 358 | Comcast 107 | DISH Network 196 | More...
What’s Hot On RT
Other News
CloseSponsored Links
Around The Network
- Whatever It Takes at Rotten Tomatoes
- Whatever It Takes at IGN
Fresh Links
Featured

Last week, MSN gave us their top 09 films. Now see what their favorites of the decade are!

Here's a list of the 50 best movies of 2009, according to the good people over at Moviefone.

Hollywood.com takes a stab at determining who in movies will be on Santa's naughty list in 2009.

TIME chimes in with their own list of the best films released this year.

Click through to see which movies BuzzSugar placed in their Best-of-Decade list!
Promos

Get the latest Tomatometer updates on upcoming movies!



Top Critic



